Page 23 - CARILEC CE Journal CEMAY2021
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ensures redundancy, since they can continue    luxury of not committing to them for more than
                   supplying electricity even during challenging weather   needed. A country can simply contract a Powership
                   conditions. If the weather conditions become too   of  any  desired  size  for  a  relatively  short  period,
                   extreme (e.g. category 5 hurricanes such as “Irma”   while continuing to investigate and monitor the
                   or “Maria” in 2017), Powerships can quickly move   development  of  the  battery  storage technologies
                   to a safe harbour in a matter of hours, wait for the   from commercial and technical aspects. When the
                   hurricane to pass and come back and re-connect to   battery storage technologies become technically and
                   supply reliable electricity when it is most needed in   commercially capable to cope with the intermittency
                   the islands.                                   problems of renewables, then, countries can invest in
                                                                  these solutions and let the Powerships go once their
                   Perfectly integrated                           contract durations are fulfilled. For any country, this
                   Powerships have a unique all-in-one design and are   is an extraordinary luxury to have which cannot be
                   delivered ready to operate. They are implemented   offered by any other permanent, land-based solution
                   with an on-board, high voltage substation which   that uses a similar ICRE technology with Powerships.
                   enables no transmission losses. Moreover, they are     All the characteristics elaborated above translate
                   implemented  with  on-board  liquid  fuel  (i.e.  HFO)   into having an immediate supply of reliable power at
                   storage. In addition, fuel transfer into Powerships   very competitive prices which offer flexibility and a
                   can be made via ship-to-ship method which means   much better environment for integrating renewable
                   that the additional urban infrastructure burden of   generation assets into the countries’ systems.
                   carrying fuel via trucks is eliminated.
                                                                  THE IMPORTANCE OF HAVING
                   Economical as desired                          DISPATCHABLE GENERATION ASSETS
                   Thanks to their modular, circa 20 MW medium speed   Being dispatchable is one of the most crucial aspects
                   internal combustion reciprocating engines (mainly   for newly allocated generation to have. Dispatchable
                   procured from engine industry giants Wartsila or   generation refers to sources of electricity that can be
                   MAN), either natural gas (procured from pipeline   used on demand and dispatched at the request of
                   or  from  an  LNG  supply  chain)  or  HFO  is  utilized   electricity grid operators, according to the dynamic
                   compared to much more expensive diesel, which   market needs. As an example, renewables can be
                   translates into much lower costs of supplied power.  considered as dispatchable generation sources only
                                                                  when complemented with another technology such
                   Highly efficient and flexible                  as ICRE Powerships utilizing LNG or natural gas or
                   Most Powerships are equipped with heat recovery   HFO as dispatchable sources of generation.
                   systems and steam generation turbines which allows     Dispatchable plants have different speeds at
                   for combined cycle operations. They are designed   which they can be dispatched. The fastest plants to
                   to quickly synchronize and follow the load profile
                   generation. This capability is especially designed
                   to serve grids that experience load fluctuation and
                   intermittency problems caused by renewable and        What differentiates
                   non-dispatchable  assets.  Utilizing  their  dual  fuel
                   technology and their floating capabilities, Powerships   Powerships from
                   offer  the  ability  to  switch  between  fuels  and/or   other land-based and
                   change location when and if needed.
                     Another  angle  to  the  flexibility  issue  is  on  the   floating alternatives
                   contractual side. Powerships – contrary to land-    is their unique design
                   based solutions – can be contracted for periods   which is an “all-in-one”
                   as short as 1 year or up to 25 years, depending on
                   the needs of the customer. Therefore, countries,   package and a “plug-
                   based on their strategies and energy policies, can   and-play” solution.
                   opt  for  benefiting  from  the  economical  savings
                   from contracting a Powership while having the




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